1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to medical gowns, and more particularly to a medical gown having a quick close neck closure.
2. Background Art
Medical professionals are called on to prevent cross contamination when treating patients. For example, where a doctor is treating two patients, and one patient has a communicable disease, the doctor must take care not to function as a vector for the disease when visiting other patients. When the doctor visits multiple patients in succession, the doctor must ensure that microorganisms or pathogens are not carried from one patient to the other.
This is frequently accomplished by donning a medical gown, which is sometimes referred to as an “isolation gown.” A medical service provider treating a sick patient will sometimes don the isolation gown prior to entering that patient's room. When exiting the room, the medical professional will remove the gown, thereby ensuring that no microorganisms or pathogens from the patient have attached to the medical service provider's clothes.
One problem associated with prior art isolation gowns, is that they are too time-consuming to put on and take off. A busy medical services provider may treat hundreds of patients during a given day. Prior art isolation gowns that require excessive time to put on or take off can reduce the number of patients they can be seen in a given day. Another problem associated prior art isolation gowns is that they are too complicated. Some include drawstrings and other fastening mechanisms that are cumbersome to employ.
There is thus a need for improved medical gown that is quick and simple to put on and take off.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.